Awarded a special prize for 'Originality of Vision' at the Sundance Film Festival, debutant writer-director Rian Johnson lays the foundation of a highly promising career with this darkly humorous mystery-thriller.

Johnson-s clever conceit is to have modern-day Californian high-schoolers acting and talking like they've stepped straight out of a Raymond Chandler novel.

But don't be fooled into thinking this is just a cute, Bugsy Malone-style, kids-playing-at-being-grown-ups romp. When Brick hits, it hits hard.

At its core is Joseph Gordon-Levitt, graduating from TV frippery 3rd Rock From The Sun to play Brendan, a bespectacled outsider whose girlfriend Emily (Emilie de Ravin, the pregnant blonde from Lost) ditched him to run with the school's in-crowd.

Turns out the in-crowd was the wrong crowd - and now she's dead.

Like an adolescent Philip Marlowe, Brendan starts to sniff around the so-called 'Upper Crust', abetted by his nerdy pal Brain (Matt O’Leary).

The clique revolves around it-girl Laura (Zehetner) and her preening boyfriend Brad, with lowlifes like Dode and his dope-addled homies lurking around at the edges.

After several frequent (and painful) run-ins with Tugger, a thug in a black Mustang, Brendan's trail leads to 'The Pin' (Haas), a cane-carrying druglord who runs his business from his mum's basement.

The only way to get answers about Emily's death is to fall in with The Pin. He knows things. But not everything. Laura, Dode, Tugger – they all know something too. But nobody's saying nuthin'.

The plot intrigues, and while the patter takes some getting used to, it's entertainingly unique: "Look for a show of hands when you ask who knows The Pin, you'll get a crowd of full pockets."

The performances are equally spot-on, especially Gordon-Levitt who rolls with the punches to strike a perfect balance between playful and serious.

Smart, stylish and inventive, Brick is way too cool for school.

Elliott Noble